Roses
by regalshipper
Summary: Outlaw Queen Week day six; Secret Admirer. AU. After arriving back from the cursed year, each morning a flower and a note is placed in Regina's office.


**A/N To all my American friends, Happy Independence Day! Back for Outlaw Queen Week day six; secret admirer. **

**Please enjoy!**

* * *

Monday mornings were always the worst. Coaxing herself out of bed and to work proved always way more difficult then it needed to be, especially now. After arriving back in Storybrooke mysteriously one morning with no memory of the year between when she had stopped the curse and when she woke, people tended to avoid her. She felt that they would blame her for this new curse, so she kept a generally low profile, going to work as usual.

Everything was the same this morning as usual. Henry still not in Storybrooke, she had almost no reason to even try in the morning. She hit the snooze button on her alarm a record of three times this morning, each time reducing the time she had to eat down to none. She only had enough time to make her morning cup off coffee before leaving for the office.

Now arriving at her office and parking her car, she entered the office building and up the stairs like any other day. Unlocking her office, she entered, placing her bag down on the table and taking out the files she had to read through today. She dropped them down on her desk with a sigh and pulled out her chair.

This is when her morning changed.

There was a note on her chair folded up with her name written in fancy script on the front.

Raising her eyebrow, Regina reached down to her chair and picked up the note. She opened the flap, her eyes darting repeatedly over the short message.

'_Roses are so cliché don't you think?_'

What on earth did that mean? Roses?

She shook her head sitting down in her chair, placing the note in the corner of her desk not occupied by her files. She pulled the top file off of the pile and slid it in front of her. She reached into the top drawer of her desk to grab out a pen, when she found a single lily sitting on top off her supplies.

Removing the lily from her desk, she observed the flower. It was beautiful. A pastel pink with a hint of white around the outside, the petals were soft, yet delicate. And its sent was truly wonderful.

She felt sad that she didn't have anything to put the flower in. She walked over to her cabinet, taking out a glass she would usually use to put her drinks in and filled it up with water before placing the lily inside.

Whoever had given her this flower had exquisite taste, although she disagreed with their note. She actually had a fondness for roses.

* * *

Tuesday.

Another morning at the office.

And apparently, that now meant another flower.

Today, the note was on top of her desk where she could see it more prominently. The lily and the glass it was in had been removed from her desk. Now, a small glass vase had taken it's place, with a sign another card next to it.

'_Better then a glass if I do say so'__  
_

Regina chuckled, moving the note aside with the one from yesterday and opened up the top drawer of her desk to find a brand new flower, today a chrysanthemum. The bright yellow flower brought a smile to her face. She placed it in the vase after filling it with water.

As she began to work, sipping at her coffee, the question kept coming to mind.

Who was sending her flowers?

Who would even want to send her flowers?

She tried to ignore the thoughts, but the same question kept coming back to mind as she read the first few lines of the paper work she needed to fill out.

Who was this mysterious person?

Is he tall?

Handsome?

Dashing?

Or perhaps it was a woman?

Dropping her pen in frustration, she walked out of her office and down the stairs to the front desk. The worker looked up from her computer, putting down the phone she was speaking on. "Mayor Mills, how can I assist you?"

"Yes, did you let any one into my office this morning?"

"No, you were the first person in this morning Madam Mayor. Why?" She said while reading a few notes off of a yellow clip board. "I can get you yesterday's visitors log if you would like."

"There is no need." She said quickly walking off. Going back into her office, she though over the ways the person could have gotten into her office. The windows were shut and the door locked. How could any one at all even get in, or what else they could have take.

Once inside her office, she searched around the room, making sure that all her personal belongs were still there. And sure enough, there was nothing missing or even out of place. The glass from yesterday had even been cleaned and placed back in the line up with the others. The lily, removed. But nothing more was changed.

* * *

Wednesday.

Another flower.

Not to her surprise, her secret admirer had snuck into her office for the third time to leave a flower and a note. This morning, a soft purple orchid was already placed into the vase that had been filled with clean water. Elegant was the only word that came to mind with this flower.

Today the note was more extensive.

'_Regina, you are beautiful. I don't want to scare you, but I have fallen in love you. Perhaps one day we can meet, but you must wait for that one day to come.'_

It made her wish that she had gotten security cameras installed in her office. Of course she could use a tracking spell. But that would be too easy, or maybe it would just lead back to the Game of Thorns flower shop where these flowers most likely came from.

Either way, she wanted to meet this person as soon as possible.

Perhaps that meant she would be doing a little bit of overtime tonight.

* * *

Regina had stayed in her office after the rest of the people left the building. She told them she would lock up when she was done of course, but she had no intention of doing so. Placing a barrier spell on her office, people could only enter, but not exit the room. Once inside, they would be stuck there.

She sat in the corner of her office, with all the lights turned off so she could not be seen by the outside world and waited on the couch, sipping a glass of red wine.

It took a few hours before anything changed, but around three in the morning, she heard a noise from outside her window. After waiting a few minutes, the pane slid up, and a body slipped inside. He took the orchid out of the water and placed another different flower in its place. Placing a card in front of the vase, he turned to leave, but something prevented him.

Regina flicked on the overhead lights of her office illuminating the man in the action. "Who are you?" He blushed a little, being caught in the act. "You are the one who has been giving me flowers?"

"Yes I have."

Regina's eyes flickered over to the vase to see today was a red rose. Walking slowly to the desk, she picked up the card she was meant to red in the morning.

'_Perhaps roses are not the terrible.'_

She flicked the card closed and placed it with the rest. "It is a lovely rose."

"Thank you."

She took a few steps toward him, his back now pressed against the wall due to the close proximity between them. "If this is the way you felt why didn't you just tell me?"

"I preferred to watch from a distance. And this was far more romantic."

"You know, I am talking to you, and I don't even know your name."

He tipped his head a little bit. "The name is Robin. Robin of Locksley."

"The thief?"

"Well I don't do that any more you see."

"And..." She stepped one step even closer to him, placing one hand on his chest. "You said that you thought you loved me. Is that true."

Looking down on her. "Everything I wrote was true."

"Well," She said stepping away, walking away a little. "If you are going to give me flowers," She grabbed a spare wine glass and filled it. "Don't break into my office to do it again." She reached out the wine glass to him, his hand touching hers slightly as he took it from her.

He brought the glass to his lips, taking a sip off the top. "And you are okay with this?"

"What?"

"With me being here."

"Fine." She paused. "For now at least. Just don't break in again."

He tipped his head a little again. "I wouldn't dream of it."

Something about that statement struck a chord with her. It was so awfully familiar. "Have... we meet before?"

"Not formally no. Or at least as far back as I can remember. Perhaps, though, we meet in that pesky missing year no one can remember." He said as he finished his glass of wine.

Regina nodded putting down her half filled wine glass on her desk. "Hold on, I will go get the bottle."

Robin placed his glass down next to hers as she came back with the bottle of wine. As he went to remove his hand, he knocked the wine glass to the floor. the glass had shattered into a few pieces and a small puddle of wine pooled in between the cracks in the floor design. "Oh, Regina, I am so sorry."

They both bent down at the same time, their foreheads almost meeting. "It's..." She moved away just a little bit. "just alright."

He went to pick up a shard closer to her, keeping eye contact with her the entire time. When he went to move his head back, he stopped right in front of her face.

He inched forward, as if asking for permission. Regina closed the gap between them, their lips meeting in a soft kiss. It was slow at first, cautious. They both felt the strange spark that accompanied. One that neither of them had felt in a long time. Before their kiss progressed, Regina pulled away for a moment.

"Perhaps the glass can wait a few minutes?"


End file.
